Who鈥檚 heard the story of a mountain goat living under a B.C. bridge?

It鈥檚 no tall tale.

The shaggy beast doesn鈥檛 actually live there, but it did come for a visit Wednesday night and nestle in the east-side underbelly of the Victoria Street Bridge in Trail.

Conservation Officer Blair Thin said shortly after 6 p.m. a call came in that a wild goat was spotted lodged beneath the Columbia River crossing.

He and fellow officer Ben Beetlestone were 70-or-so kilometres away dealing with a campfire violation at Rosebud Lake, so they couldn鈥檛 see it - or truly believe it - until hours later.

But when they did roll into Trail after 10 p.m., Thin said they quickly located the frightened animal.

鈥淗e was quite visible under the highway bridge,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚t was bedded down between the concrete bridge supports.鈥�

The goat was assessed to be healthy and approximately three years-old.

鈥淲e then utilized a jab stick in order to inject a tranquilizer drug,鈥� Thin said. 鈥淎nd we were able to borrow a kennel off a local resident so we could transport the goat to an area within its home range.鈥�

Shortly after the goat woke up from its ordeal at around 11:30 p.m., the officers set it free.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a common occurrence to have mountain goats underneath the Trail bridge,鈥� Thin noted. 鈥淭hat said, there is a healthy population of goats in the near vicinity. This one probably came from the ridge that runs in Sunningdale and behind the hospital,鈥� he added.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of country up there and a lot of craggy rock, which is good habitat for them.鈥�

Thin did not disclose where the animal was released.

鈥淎ny animal released back into the wild is quite vulnerable because they still have effects of the tranquilizer,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we don鈥檛 want it getting spooked by human activity or a dog, and stumbling off the mountain again.鈥�